Date & Time：
October 24th (Wednesday), from 15:56 @TOHO Cinemas Roppongi Hills Screen 5
Appearance：
Edwin (Director/Screenplay), Garin Nugroho (Director), Riri Riza (Director)
Here are some notes and quotes (Digest Report):
Q:The 1990’s are known as the dark ages for the Indonesian film industry. When and how did that situation change and lead to your present day accomplishments?
Garin Nugroho: It was a period of transition during my time. There weren’t many films being produced, maybe just as many as four films. Therefore, the 90’s were definitely a ‘blank’ period for filmmaking in Indonesia. As you may recall, President Suharto with his military government was in office during this time and the publishing industry together with the film industry was under the control and surveillance of his regime. Therefore, it was difficult for young filmmakers to come about, especially since you had to have a name in the film industry to be accepted into the system made by the government. Although I had worked with prestigious Indonesian directors, it was still necessary to build an entirely new system by myself. So when my film, “Love is a Slice of Bread” was to be screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival, I did not receive any support from the government, instead, people from the Japan Foundation such as Mr. Sato and Mr. Ishizuka here today made it possible to screen this movie in Tokyo. Unfortunately, because of this, the Indonesian film industry conducted demonstrations to protest against my not abiding by the government’s system.
Edwin: The early 1990’s was when many commercial television channels started to appear in Indonesia. This opened doors to filmmakers to the television industry. At the same time, the young generation at this time had grown up with mass media and culture which is one reason why this generation has started to make films—some of them intrigued by the media and others because they were tired of the same old content and wanted something new.
Q:What are your challenges for the future?
Riri Riza: I feel that Indonesian films are entering a new era, that is, we’ve had many successful films in the past ten years. However, I want to try something new because I don’t believe in doing the same thing routinely. As you know, Indonesia is a large country with a variety of cultures and religion so I’d like to keep my options opened in how I shoot films because there is so much to choose from. It would be interesting to try many kinds of filmmaking—from large production films to independent productions.
Director Garin Nugroho also shared his plans for future filmmaking. “I plan to try new and exciting things next year in filmmaking. Specifically, I’m thinking about using artists and painters which would be like reviving the world of cinema from the 1980’s.”
In the end, Director Nugroho presented a gift to the Japan Foundation. “This book is a collection of all my work for the past 30 years. I’d like to express my sincere appreciation and present this book to you.”
